Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Heroic and ENCE emerged as group winners on Tuesday and advanced to the semifinals of the Intel Extreme Masters Dallas.
In the Group A upper-bracket final, Heroic routed G2 Esports 2-0, prevailing 16-9 on Inferno, 16-4 on Ancient.
ENCE overtook Astralis for a 2-1 win in the Group B upper-bracket final. After Astralis claimed Overpass 16-12, ENCE pulled out a 19-17 overtime victory on Nuke. ENCE captured the third map, Mirage, 16-12.
The $250,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event opened on Monday with 16 teams divided into two double-elimination groups. The opening matches consisted of a single map, while all remaining matches in the tournament are best-of-three.
The group winners will head straight to the semifinals of the single-elimination playoffs. The second-place teams in each group will be high seeds in the quarterfinals, and the third-place teams in each group will be low seeds in the quarterfinals.
The grand final is scheduled for Sunday, with the champion receiving $100,000, 2,400 BLAST Premier points and a berth in the $1 million Intel Extreme Masters Cologne, scheduled for July 25-Aug. 6 in Germany.
G2 are headed to a quarterfinal matchup against FaZe Clan, who earned a 2-1 win over Cloud9 in the Group B lower-bracket final. FaZe Clan opened with a 16-7 win on Mirage before Cloud9 responded by taking Inferno 16-7. FaZe took the decisive third map, Ancient, 16-9.
The winner of the G2-FaZe Clan matchup on Friday will advance to a semifinal meeting against ENCE on Saturday.
In the Group A lower-bracket final, MOUZ swept OG 2-0, taking Mirage 16-10 and Inferno 16-7. Next up for MOUZ is a quarterfinal matchup on Friday against Astralis, with the winner moving on to oppose Heroic in the semifinals.
Intel Extreme Masters Dallas prize pool and BLAST Premier points distribution:
1. $100,000, 2,400 points, berth in Intel Extreme Masters Cologne
2. $42,000, 1,200 points
3-4. $20,000, 750 points
5-6. $10,000, 225 points
7-8. $6,000, 225 points — OG, Cloud9
9-12. $5,000, no points — 9z Team, FURIA Esports, Complexity Gaming, Team Liquid
13-16. $4,000, no points — Fnatic, Nouns Esports, Evil Geniuses, Grayhound Gaming
–Field Level Media